Trayvon’s father spoke of his son in visit to Buffalo

Grown men had tears in their eyes after listening to Tracy Martin talk about his son and the outcome of George Zimmerman’s murder trial, according to those who heard him when Martin was in Buffalo this week to attend a Masonic convention.

The father of slain teen Trayvon Martin was honored with a proclamation, and he talked about his son during an emotional gathering as part of the International Free and Accepted Modern Masons and Order of the Eastern Star convention in the Hyatt Regency Buffalo.

Martin had arrived in Buffalo after a jury Saturday night acquitted Zimmerman of second-degree murder and manslaughter. He had been charged in the shooting death of the unarmed teenager whom he began following because he considered the youth suspicious.

Martin described an entirely different young man who would have gone on to do great things, according to those who heard him. He left Buffalo on Wednesday night for New York City to do a round of network television interview programs Thursday in which he similarly said he wished the jury “really knew Trayvon for who he was.”

He and Trayvon’s mother are waiting to see whether the U.S. Department of Justice charges Zimmerman with violating Trayvon’s civil rights, as the family contemplates filing a civil lawsuit.